EU Cancels Macedonia Crisis Talks in Vienna

The EU has confirmed that Friday's planned meeting in Vienna of Macedonian party leaders, aimed at resolving the crisis in the country, will not now take place.

"We have consistently said that the breakdown of the Pr?ino Agreement [the EU-brokered crisis agreement of last year] would have serious consequences for the country. We would deeply regret any retrograde steps in Skopje that would move the country further away from its aspirations towards European Union accession," spokesperson Maja Kocijancic said on Thursday.

She said that the EU remains "available to assist the parties now and in the future. But the responsibility to ensure democratic progress and to make headway on the Euro-Atlantic path rests with the parties themselves, on behalf of the citizens of their own country. They must now deliver".

The crisis in Macedonia took a turn for the worse last week when President Gjorge Ivanov dramatically pardoned 56 politicians and their associates facing criminal investigation.

The pardon, mostly affecting politicians from the ruling parties that were being investigated by the Special Prosecution, outraged opposition supporters and prompted protests in the capital, Skopje, and in other towns, including Bitola, Strumica, Veles, Kumanovo, Ohrid, Prilep, Gostivar and Stip.

The Speaker of Parliament, Trajko Veljanovski, ramped the crisis up further last Friday when he confirmed the June 5 date of the general election. The date has been pushed by the ruling VMRO DPMNE party without the consent of the opposition.

Responding to criticism of the pardon, in a press release on Thursday, Ivanov said that legal experts had found "no legal grounds for anulling the pardon" but that they were continuing to work on the issue.
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